More than a hundred Republican members of Congress sent a letter to President Trump asking him to not follow through on the tariffs he proposed on steel and aluminum. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Carlos Garcia

Mar 7, 2018 8:52 pm

More than a hundred Republican members of Congress sent President Trump a letter Wednesday asking that he not impose the tariffs on aluminum and steel that he announced, and had promised on the campaign trail in 2016.

Here’s what they said

“We are writing to express deep concern about the prospect of broad, global tariffs on aluminum and steel imports,” their letter to Trump read.

“Because tariffs are taxes that make U.S. businesses less competitive and U.S. consumers poorer,” they continued, “any tariffs that are imposed should be designed to address specific distortions caused by unfair trade practices in a targeted way while minimizing negative consequences on American businesses and consumers.”

An “easy” Trump trade war

The president surprised many by announcing that he would order a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports and 25 percent on steel imports in order to protect U.S. manufacturers.

When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win,” he explained from his social media account.

“Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big,” he added. “It’s easy!”

Trump later backed off on the trade war claim, saying he didn’t believe they would enter into one. Other countries have threatened to retaliate by imposing their own tariffs on American exports – which would be a trade war.
Unintended consequences

“We support your resolve to address distortions caused by China’s unfair practices,” the letter from Republicans continued, “and we are committed to acting with you and our trading partners on meaningful and effective action.”

“But we urge you to reconsider the idea of broad tariffs to avoid unintended negative consequences to the U.S. economy and its workers,” they concluded.